Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2009

Talented writer/directors like Satoshi Miki (Tenten) and Kankuro Kudo (The Shonen Merikensack) have ushered in an era of Japanese comedy where surreal visuals, a frenetic pace and all manner of pop references prevail. But unless one is as creative and gifted as those two filmmakers, the genre becomes an absurd hodgepodge that’s seldom funny. This is exactly the case with Virign Killer Road, which is good for a laugh or two but mainly falls flat. Twenty-something Hiroko (Juri Ueno) has always been an awkward loser, but she’s about to marry Kenichi (Daisuke Maki), who is handsome, rich, charming and kind. The day before the wedding, Hiroko accidentally kills her friendly (but perverted) landlord, and a wild goose chase ensues when she tries to dispose of the body in a forest. There she meets up with Fukuko (Yoshino Kimura), a slightly older woman who is so dispirited she is trying to hang herself, and the pair partakes in a host of surreal adventures, few of which earn any laughs. This is a mildly amusing diversion for a rainy day. (97 min)